"National Teacher, National Teacher?"

The veiled woman called out several times, and found that Luo Yuheng's face was dull, his eyes were distracted, like a beautiful jade beauty, beautiful but without vitality.

The veiled woman reached out to push, but was blocked by a wall of air.

............

Outside the city, in a small courtyard.

An ethereal light that ordinary people could not capture descended into the courtyard, transforming into a beautiful woman wearing a dark Daoist robe and a lotus flower crown on her head.

She had almond-shaped eyes, peachy cheeks, exquisite features, and lustrous black hair. The loose Daoist robe couldn't conceal the proud and straight posture of her chest.

Luo Yuheng pushed open the door and saw an old Daoist with white hair lying on the bed, with a peaceful expression on his face.

She concentrated and sensed for a moment, then reached out her hand from the loose robe and suddenly grabbed it.

After a few breaths, a slightly illusory figure returned from a distance and was drawn into her palm, then she waved her sleeve and pushed it into the old Daoist's body.

Taoist Master Jin Lian opened his eyes, sat up, and helplessly said, "I was on my way back."

Speaking, Taoist Master Jin Lian looked at Luo Yuheng's tall and prominent figure and said, "Junior Sister, even your Yang Spirit has left your body. What urgent matter is it?"

Luo Yuheng didn't beat around the bush and asked directly, "Did you watch the fight today?"

Taoist Master Jin Lian nodded.

"The Confucian's Carving Knife appeared."

........Taoist Master Jin Lian hesitated slightly and nodded slightly.

"I'm asking you, what kind of person is Xu Qi'an?" Luo Yuheng stepped forward, her eyes shining.

"Just an ordinary person," Taoist Master Jin Lian's answer was somewhat hesitant.

"Can an ordinary person use the Confucian's Carving Knife?" Luo Yuheng sneered.

Taoist Master Jin Lian frowned and remained silent.

After a long time, he slowly said, "When I met him for the first time, I saw that he was a person with great fortune, so I gave him the fragment of the Earth Book to use his fortune to evade the pursuit of the Purple Lotus.

"Afterwards, I investigated his identity and found it strange. Whether it was Li Miaozhen, Chu Yuanzhen, or others, when I gave them the fragment of the Earth Book, they were already on the rise.

"Only Xu Qi'an was in the Refining Essence Realm, and his family background was nothing special. Where did his fortune come from? Huh, fortune comes from doing good deeds or blessings from ancestors. He has neither."

Luo Yuheng listened patiently without interrupting.

"Later, something happened that made me realize that his situation was not right... Once, this kid revealed in the fragment of the Earth Book that he picks up silver every day and wanted to know the reason."

Upon hearing this, Luo Yuheng couldn't help but say, "This isn't fortune."

Taoist Master Jin Lian gazed at her, his eyes deep and bright, and said word by word, "This is Qi Luck, overwhelming Qi Luck."

Although she had some guesses, when she received confirmation from Taoist Master Jin Lian, Luo Yuheng's pupils suddenly contracted.

...........

Xu Qi'an woke up quietly, feeling pain all over his body, especially in his neck, where a fiery pain emerged.

He turned his eyes and glanced at the surroundings, white bed curtains, a brocade quilt embroidered with lotus leaves, simple yet elegant furnishings... In the outer hall, an old man in Confucian attire was sitting at the round table.

Who is this Confucian? Xu Qi'an flashed a hint of doubt in his heart.

"You're awake," the Confucian old man stood up, smiling, "I am Zhao Shou, the Dean of Yunlu Academy."

The Dean of Yunlu Academy... According to the old saying, the Dean of the Academy is in the third rank of the Confucian's Life Establishment Realm! Xu Qi'an immediately straightened up and bowed:

"So it's the Dean, the Dean has an extraordinary temperament, elegant and restrained, truly a respected elder."

After a pause, he said, "Why is the Dean in my room?"

Dean Zhao Shou did not answer, his gaze fell on Xu Qi'an's right hand, and Xu Qi'an then realized that he had been holding the Carving Knife all along.

He was first stunned, then he had a guess: Is this Carving Knife from Yunlu Academy? It makes sense, besides Yunlu Academy, what other system could contain such righteousness.

"This Carving Knife is the treasure of our academy. You've been holding it all along, and no one can take it away, so I had to wait for you to wake up here and ask you some questions."

After Dean Zhao Shou finished speaking, he looked at the ancient Carving Knife on the table, and his expression seemed to say: Still holding it? This young man is so ignorant.

Xu Qi'an offered the Carving Knife with both hands.

Dean Zhao Shou didn't take it, but looked at the table.

Understanding, Xu Qi'an threw the Carving Knife onto the table with a clang.

Dean Zhao Shou's eyebrows jumped, and he quickly bowed, bowing to the Carving Knife three times, then took out a wooden box from his sleeve and put the Carving Knife inside.

"Do you know the origin of the Carving Knife, Mr. Xu?" Dean Zhao Shou smiled.

Xu Qi'an's heart moved, and he boldly guessed, "The Carving Knife of the Virtuous Saint?"

Dean Zhao Shou shook his head, "This is the Carving Knife of the Saint."The saint's carving knife... Is it the saint himself, a saint beyond rank... Can I touch the knife a little longer? I haven't taken a picture to post on my social media... Xu Qi'an opened his mouth, his throat seemed to be speechless.

"Since the passing of the semi-saint, this carving knife has been silent for over a thousand years. Even if later generations can use it, they cannot awaken it. I didn't expect it to break out of the box today to assist Mr. Xu."

Zhao Shou looked at Xu Qi'an intently and said in a deep voice, "There are some things that need to be pointed out to Mr. Xu in person."

Xu Qi'an's heart sank, with a premonition. He got up from the bed and bowed, "Please enlighten me, Dean."

...

"Impossible, impossible..."

Luo Yuheng kept shaking her head, her delicate and slender eyebrows furrowed, refuting, "I have had many contacts with him. If he had a fortune, I wouldn't be able to detect it. How could my sect not detect it?"

Taoist Master Jin Lian asked in return, "What if the heavenly mechanism was blocked? And now, when you go to see Xu Qi'an again, you still won't detect any abnormalities in him."

"Are you talking about the Bureau of Heavenly Masters?" Luo Yuheng took a deep breath, her frowning posture was also beautiful, with sharp eyes:

"You have investigated Xu Qi'an. He is just a small fry, with no extraordinary background. How can he bear the fortune?"

"Sorry, I can't figure this out." Taoist Master Jin Lian got up from the bed and walked to the table, poured two cups of water, and gestured for Luo Yuheng to sit.

The female national teacher ignored him.

She didn't have the leisure to drink tea now.

After thinking for a long time, Luo Yuheng suddenly said, "If it was a sorcerer who blocked the heavenly mechanism, theoretically, you wouldn't be able to see his fortune at all. The Bureau of Heavenly Masters sets up a smokescreen, and if they don't want others to know, others will never know. That's a first-class sorcerer."

"What you can think of, I naturally have thought of." Taoist Master Jin Lian drank his tea calmly, "Some time ago, I found that his fortune had disappeared and deliberately went to see him.

"I found that the Bureau of Heavenly Masters had blocked the heavenly mechanism and concealed his special status. I knew at that time that this matter was unusual, and Xu Qi'an was hiding a huge secret.

"The day I left Xu's house, I walked to the Bagua Terrace of the Bureau of Heavenly Masters and saw the Dean."

"What did he say?" Luo Yuheng narrowed her beautiful eyes.

"Water does not intrude on water." Taoist Master Jin Lian said in a deep voice.

Luo Yuheng, with her exquisite figure, remained silent for a long time, biting her silver teeth and saying angrily, "The fortune of the dynasty has plummeted, and it is indeed inseparable from the Bureau of Heavenly Masters."

Taoist Master Jin Lian frowned, "What do you mean?"

Luo Yuheng finally sat down at the table, picked up the teacup, and sipped it, saying, "A few years ago, Wei Yuan came to the Lingbao Temple and scolded me for being a disaster to the country.

"He said that in the twenty years of His Majesty's cultivation, the national power of the Great Feng has been declining, and the taxes and grain in various states are often not collected, causing hardship to the people and rampant corruption among the officials.

"All of this is because I, for the sake of my own cultivation, have misled His Majesty's cultivation, causing him to neglect his duties."

Isn't it? Taoist Master Jin Lian thought to himself.

At that time, I suddenly realized that the fortune of the dynasty was beginning to decline, like a blunt knife cutting meat, making it difficult to detect. If Wei Yuan, with his talent in statecraft and familiarity with civil affairs, had not been the first to notice and give me a wake-up call, I'm afraid I would have had to wait a few more years to discover the clues.

After listening, Taoist Master Jin Lian nodded and reminded, "Don't say so much. This is the Dean's territory. It's possible that he has been listening to our conversation all along."

"It's unlikely," Luo Yuheng pursed her lips, quite confident, "He can't hear us."

It's not a matter of whether he can hear us or not, it's a matter of me not wanting to get involved in this mess... Taoist Master Jin Lian, full of wisdom, changed the subject:

"If, and I say if, Xu Qi'an really has a fortune, would you cultivate with him?"

Luo Yuheng's expression froze again.

...

"Do you know why the saint's carving knife broke out of the box? Why, apart from the semi-saint, can later generations only use it, but not awaken it?" Zhao Shou asked two questions in a row.

I'm just a crude warrior, Dean... Xu Qi'an shook his head, indicating that he didn't know.

The Dean didn't beat around the bush either, saying in a deep voice, "Insufficient fortune. This carving knife was used by the saint to carve the 'Spring and Autumn Annals,' 'Rites,' 'Music,' 'Changes,' and so on.

"Only those who have gathered great fortune from the world can use it."

With this passage, the Dean finally solved Xu Qi'an's long-standing confusion. His strange luck was actually his fortune.

Picking up silver coins every day, isn't this the son of fortune? One day, picking up one coin, slowly turning into three coins a day, five coins a day... It's still a fortune that can be upgraded.No, rather than saying it was leveling up, it would be more accurate to say it was slowly awakening within me... Xu Qi'an felt a heavy weight in his heart.

He had a reason for thinking this way. As his rank improved, his luck seemed to get better and better. At first glance, it might seem like his luck was leveling up, but how could that be possible?

The only explanation was that the qi of fortune within him was gradually awakening.

But I'm just a child from an ordinary family in the capital. My Xu family is just an ordinary family, with my second uncle and biological father being crude martial soldiers, mere foot soldiers at that.

Unless I'm not really a child of the Xu family.

I've had this suspicion before because there was a spirit dragon in the palace that was particularly fond of me. Taoist Master Jin Lian said that spirit dragons only like those who are blessed with imperial qi.

At the time, Xu Qi'an thought to himself, oh no, I'm still enamored with Huai Qing's beauty, could I be the illegitimate child of some prince in the royal family?

But Xu Qi'an's face, before his "makeover," bore a strong resemblance to his second uncle. From a genetic standpoint, there was a blood relation between them.

He, Xu Qi'an, was indeed a child of the Xu family, the offspring of his elder brother Xu Pingzhi. Even if he were an illegitimate child of Xu Pingzhi, he would still be a child of the Xu family.

The essence remains unchanged.

So, where did this fortune come from?

The headmaster Zhao Shou said gently, "This qi of fortune is mysterious yet real. In the Nine Provinces, there are three things related to fortune: one, the Confucian scholars; two, the sorcerers; three, the mortal emperors.

"The third is not limited to The Great Feng; the God of Witchcraft's followers and the Western Regions' Buddhist sects are the same. As for the southern and northern barbarians, the former's tribes are scattered and have never united. The latter's population is sparse, and they cannot gather fortune."

Most likely, the Confucian scholars have nothing to do with me, otherwise the headmaster wouldn't be talking to me about this... So, there are only two reasons for my fortune: the royal family and the Bureau of Heavenly Masters.

If I were a descendant of the royal family, then it's all over, Lin'an and Huai Qing would be my sisters, or cousins. But the spirit dragon's attitude suggests that it's unlikely I'm a royal descendant. Compared to an illegitimate child lost among the commoners, wouldn't the legitimate princes and princesses be more deserving of its affection?

Besides, I haven't seen Lin'an and Huai Qing picking up silver every day.

My relationship with Lin'an is steadily improving, and I'm on good terms with Huai Qing. I've also become a viscount, and if I can elevate that to an earl in the future, I might have a chance to marry a princess.

Under no circumstances can I have any blood ties to the royal family.

Combining the past attitudes and behaviors of the Chief Astrologer, Xu Qi'an suspected that this matter was mostly related to the Bureau of Heavenly Masters, no, to the Chief Astrologer himself.

Seeing that he seemed to have figured something out, headmaster Zhao Shou said with a chuckle, "Is there anything else you want to ask?"

Is there anything else I want to ask... Hmm, headmaster, Xu Qi'an's gun, will never fall... What do you think of this phrase? If it's feasible, give me one. Xu Qi'an thought to himself.

Outwardly, he shook his head: "No more, thank you for enlightening me, headmaster."

Zhao Shou nodded: "The eunuch from the palace has been waiting outside for a long time. Please let him in, His Majesty has questions for you."

The eunuch from the palace?

After a moment of contemplation, Xu Qi'an knew the purpose of the eunuch's visit.

During the magical confrontations, he had twice shown divine might, breaking through the "Eight Sufferings Formation" and the "Vajra Formation," both of which were bursts of strength beyond his limits.

Although some "smart people" might guess that the Chief Astrologer was secretly helping, routine inquiries were unavoidable.

And... Xu Qi'an glanced at Zhao Shou, the first two cuts could be blamed on the Chief Astrologer, but the appearance of the carving knife in the academy, shattering the Buddhist realm, was not something the Chief Astrologer could control.

Emperor Yuan Jing was an emperor with a strong desire for control; he would not overlook these details... If I don't handle it well, I might get into trouble, exposing things that shouldn't be exposed, like... the carving knife was summoned by me.

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Xu Qi'an dressed himself, donned his fur hat, and followed headmaster Zhao Shou to the hall.